Browse Now . . .

Philosophy: Who Needs It

Most people dismiss
philosophy as irrelevant to life, but as Ayn Rand shows in novels like
The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged,
living by the correct fundamental ideas is as crucial to human existence as
food and water. The articles in this collection explain and develop Rand’s
unique view on the role of philosophy in man’s life.

In the titular essay, “Philosophy: Who Needs It,” Rand shows why, in order to
deal with concrete, real-life problems, an individual needs some implicit or
explicit view of the world, of man’s place in it, and of what goals and values
he ought to pursue. The abstract premises an individual holds may be true and
consistent, reached by conscientious thought—and the purpose of the science of
philosophy is to teach one how to achieve this—or his premises may be a heap
of clashing ideas unwittingly absorbed from the culture around him. But either
way, she argues, the power of philosophy is inescapable. It is something
everyone should be concerned with. How to properly approach and study
philosophy is then discussed in “Philosophic Detection” (ch. 2).

Subsequent essays reveal the true power of philosophy, for good or ill, in
human affairs. In “Faith and Force: The Destroyers of the Modern World” (ch.
7), for instance, Ayn Rand discusses how a culture’s political system is the
product of its philosophic ideas. She explains why rational ideas lead to
freedom—and why periods dominated by religion and other irrational doctrines
are periods of statism, of dictatorship, of tyranny.

Her seminal essay “Causality vs. Duty” (ch. 10) explains what mankind’s
moral teachings actually do to an individual life by contrasting a person
who obeys the “duty” to be selfless with a person who accepts her
alternative of rational egoism. For the former, morality is a debilitating
impediment to achieving his values; for the latter, morality is a necessary
means to attaining his own happiness.

Other essays underscore the power of philosophy by highlighting its influence
in such unexpected areas as the mentality and government policies driving U.S.
monetary inflation (ch. 12), the appeal of chess in Soviet Russia (ch. 6),
and the unnamed premises shaping the Supreme Court’s ominous rulings on
obscenity (ch. 15).

If you wonder why Ayn Rand was so passionate about philosophy, this book will help you to understand.